Managed devices and in particular machine to machine (M2M) devices may be used in many different situations and incorporated into a variety of different items and hardware. Typically these managed devices will have low computing resources, be restricted in power and have restricted functionality. Nevertheless, large networks of such managed devices may be developed that require maintenance, control and other interaction that require communication with a device manager.
Due to the nature of the managed devices and their limited resources in both power and computing potential, it is often necessary to keep the managed devices powered down, in a reduced power state or in a dormant state until they are required (e.g. to provide a reading or to accept a command). Devices may be scheduled to power up at certain times or intermittently. However, if information is required from such managed devices or if control or other management information needs to be sent outside of such scheduled operation times then this approach has drawbacks. Alternatively, some form of communication between the managed devices and their device manager may be maintained but this requires additional power and bandwidth especially for large networks of managed devices.
Therefore, there is required a method and system for communicating with managed devices that overcomes these problems.